Like most lovers of vintage clothing I also have a large collection of vintage accessories and jewelry to finish any outfit.

One maker of vintage costume jewelry I seem to gravitate towards is the brand Coro. Coro jewelry comes in many different styles and tastes. From simple silver to bright rhinestones.

Yet with Coro being in existence for a long period of time how best can we identify the correct time period for each item? It's not an exact science, but here is a little history of the company and a short guide to help with marks.

Coro jewelry, Cohn & Rosenberger, was founded in New York by Emanuel Cohn & Carl Rosenberger in 1901/1902 & incorporated in 1913. A factory was established in Providence, RI in 1911. With offices or plants in New York & Providence; at times they had a presence in Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, Toronto, England and Mexico. Great Britain mechanical patents have been found in the name of Corocraft from 1961 until 1969, which documents actual production in England (courtesy Mary Walden-Till).

Cohn died in 1910, but the name remained Cohn & Rosenberger. The corporate name "Coro" was adopted in 1943. Rosenberger died in 1957, & his son Gerald, who succeded him, died in 1967.

In 1969 the family sold 51% of the Coro stock to Richton, Intl. Corp., who bought the remaining stock in 1970. Richton also owned the Oscar de la Renta brand. By 1979 all the Coro companies, except the Canadian company, were bankrupt. It was sold to a South American company in 1992 & also went backrupt.**

If your piece shows the copyright symbol in addition to the Coro mark, it generally means that the piece dates to after 1955. Many jewelry manufacturers switched from patents to copyrights at about time. So, it also means that if there is a copyright symbol, it is not as likely that you will find a patent.*

Keep in mind that marks were often used for a number of years. For example the commonly seen mark of the name Coro in script, was used for many years. So although it is indentified as 1919, it was used throughout much of the history of the company.*

Coro bright pink enamel flower and rhinestone brooch.

With the copyright symbol this brooch likely dates from the 1950s

Coro pink enamel drop leaf necklace.

This is an earlier marking with this necklace probably dating from the 1930s

Coro gold tone ribbon bracelet.

This bracelet includes the pegasus symbol next to the Coro marking. While the pegasus symbol was used by Coro since the late 1930s due to the copyright C we know this bracelet is from the 1950s.

All the jewelry above plus more Coro and other costume jewelry is available at Tabby's Vintage Shop.

**Information and Coro marks courtesy of www.illusionjewels.com. A very good source for identifying makers marks.

*Information courtesy of www.thejewelrypatentproject.com. Very interesting information also about all the patents Coro took out for their jewelry designs.